The figure of the cyborg, or more latterly, the posthuman body has been an increasingly familiar presence in a number of academic disciplines. The majority of such studies have focused on popular culture, particularly the depiction of the posthuman in science-fiction, fantasy and horror. To date however, few studies have focused on the posthuman and the comic book superhero, despite their evident corporeality, and none have questioned comics’ readers about their responses to the posthuman body. This thesis presents a cultural history of the posthuman body in superhero comics along with the findings from twenty-five, two-hour interviews with readers. By way of literature reviews this thesis first provides a new typography of the posthuman, presenting it not as a stable bounded subject but as what Deleuze and Guattari (1987) describe as a ‘rhizome’. Within the rhizome of the posthuman body are several discursive plateaus that this thesis names Superhumanism (the representation of posthuman bodies in popular culture), Post/Humanism (a critical-theoretical stance that questions the assumptions of Humanism) and Transhumanism (the philosophy and practice of human enhancement with technology). With these categories in mind the thesis explores the development of the posthuman in body in the Superhuman realm of comic books. Exploring the body-types most prominent during the Golden (1938-1945), Silver (1958-1974) and contemporary Ages of superheroes it presents three explorations of what I term the Perfect Body, Cosmic Body and Military-Industrial Body respectively. These body types are presented as ‘assemblages’ (Delueze and Guattari, 1987) that display rhizomatic connections to the other discursive realms of the Post/Human and Transhuman. This investigation reveals how the depiction of the Superhuman body developed and diverged from, and sometimes back into, these realms as each attempted to territorialise the meaning and function of the posthuman body. Ultimately it describes how, in spite of attempts by nationalistic or economic interests to control Transhuman enhancement in real-world practices, the realms of Post/Humanism and Superhumanism share a more critical approach. The final section builds upon this cultural history of the posthuman body by addressing reader’s relationship with these images. This begins by refuting some of the common assumptions in comics studies about superheroes and bodily representations. Readers stated that they viewed such imagery as iconographic rather than representational, whether it was the depiction of bodies or technology. Moreover, regular or committed readers of superhero comics were generally suspicious of the notion of human enhancement, displaying a belief in the same binary categories -artificial/natural, human/non-human - that critical Post/Humanism seeks to problematize. The thesis concludes that while superhero comics remain ultimately too human to be truly Post/Humanist texts, it is never the less possible to conceptualise the relationship between reader, text, producer and so on in Post/Humanist terms as reading-assemblage, and that such a cyborgian fusing of human and comic book allow both bodies to ‘become other’, to move in new directions and form new assemblages not otherwise possible when considered separately.

This dissertation engages in a longitudinal study of the method of grassroots comics (Packalen & Sharma, 2007) amongst the Khwe people in the community of Platfontein, which is situated outside of Kimberley, South Africa. The study is largely informed by contemporary shifts in development theory, particularly that of participatory communication, which values individuals who live in the community as active participants in the research process. The use of grassroots comics (Packalen & Sharma, 2007) is largely based on theoretical concepts surfacing in current literature regarding the field development communication, which is somewhat critical of older, more dominant theories of development. Instead of applying a predetermined, uniform model of communication to multiple different settings in which varying development issues exist, this study is driven by the active involvement of community stakeholders throughout every stage of the research process. This includes the identification of community issues, the utilization of grassroots comics in the context of adapting and communicating about those issues on a community-wide scale, and the overall analysis of the process once research has been carried out. This particular study focuses on general health issues and how these might affect the Khwe community from a development perspective. However, what is of central importance is how the comics created by certain stakeholders in the community might serve as a means of promoting participatory communication amongst the local population, for the sake of alleviating certain health issues prevalent in the community itself. The practical nature of grassroots comics as a forum for health communication is what is of particular interest in this study. Purposive sampling techniques are employed in order to identify key participants and informants in the research process, to present a case-specific analysis of grassroots comics in use, and for purposes of limiting this study. Data collection methods applied to the research setting and research findings are conducted using various qualitative research techniques including participant observation, interviews, discussions and a participatory grassroots comics workshop. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2011.

This book is about the participatory aesthetics of the fantastic. In it, the author argues that the definition of the fantastic presented by Tzvetan Todorov in 1970 can be used, provided it is first adapted to a media-ecological framework, to theorize the role of aesthetic participation in the creation of secondary worlds. Working within a hermeneutical tradition, Todorov understands reader participation as interpretation, in which the creative ambiguities of the literary object are primarily epistemological. However, it is here argued that the aesthetic object of the fantastic is also characterized by material ambiguity. The purpose of this dissertation is then to present a conceptual framework with which to theorize the relation between the material and the epistemological ambiguity of the fantastic. It is argued that such a framework can be found in an ecological understanding of aesthetic participation. This, in turn, entails understanding human subjectivity as a process always already embodied in a material environment. To this extent, the proposed theoretical framework questions the clear and oppositional distinction between form and matter, as well as that between mind and body, nature and culture, and human and non-human, on which a modern and humanist notion of subjectivity is based. And in this sense, the basic ecological assumptions of this dissertation are posthumanist, or non-humanist. From this position, it is argued that an ecological understanding of participation offers a means to reformulate the function of a number of concepts central to studying the aesthetics of the fantastic, most notably the concepts of media, genre and text. As the fantastic focuses on the creation of other worlds, it is an aesthetics of coming into being, of ontogenesis. Accordingly, it will be argued that the participatory aesthetics of the fantastic operationalizes the ontogenesis of media, genres and texts. By mapping the ontogenesis of three distinct media ecologies – the media ecology of fantasy and J. R. R. Tolkien’s secondary world Middle-earth; the media ecology of the American comic book superhero Miracleman; and the media ecology of William Blake – this book argues that the ecological imagination generates world. Per Israelson has been a doctoral candidate in the Research School of Studies in Cultural History at the department of Culture and Aesthetics, Stockholm University. Ecologies of the Imagination is his dissertation.

This essay is an analysis of Brian Wood's Viking epic Northlanders, published by Vertigo/DC between the years of 2007-2012. The aim is to identify how Old Norse faith and Christianity are portrayed. This is done by using the theory of representation as developed by Stuart Hall and putting them into the historical context of a postmodern, secular western world of thought. The research shows a wide variety of religiosity in both Norse and Christian characters. Some common trends have been identified though, and these are a general appreciation of physical strength within the Norse religion and a general tendency in Norse religion to explain natural phenomena and to have fatalistic leanings while Christianity rather seeks to offer comfort in times of need. The results also show that one of the greater roles Christianity plays in Northlanders is contributing to, or sometimes forcing a societal change, while the practitioners of the Norse faith tend to lean toward stability. There is also a tendency to present the northerners as outcasts, while the Christian counterparts are part of an establishment.

At just under thirty years the serious academic study of American comic books is relatively young. Over the course of three decades most historians familiar with the medium have recognized that American comics, since becoming a mass-cultural product in 1939, have matured beyond their humble beginnings as a monthly publication for children. However, historians are not yet in agreement as to when the medium became mature. This thesis proposes that the medium’s maturity was cemented between 1985 and 2000, a much later point in time than existing texts postulate. The project involves the analysis of how an American mass medium, in this case the comic book, matured in the last two decades of the twentieth century. The goal is to show the interconnected relationships and factors that facilitated the maturation of the American sequential art, specifically a focus on a group of British writers working at DC Comics and Vertigo, an alternative imprint under the financial control of DC. The project consulted the major works of British comic scriptwriters, Alan Moore, Jamie Delano, Grant Morrison, Peter Milligan, Neil Gaiman, Warren Ellis, and Garth Ennis. These works include Watchmen, V for Vendetta, Shade: the Changing Man, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Animal Man, Sandman, Transmetropolitan, Preacher and several other important works. Following a chronological organization, the work tracks major changes taking place in the American comic book industry in the commercial, corporate, and creative sectors to show the processes through which the medium matured in this time period. This is accomplished by combining textual analysis of the comics with industry specific records and a focus on major cultural shifts in US society and culture

Captain America and Iron Man are both iconic American heroes, representing different American values. Captain America was created during the Golden Age of comics and represents a longing for the past, while Iron Man was created at the height of the Cold War and looks forward to a new America. This paper will first establish the historical and cultural relationship between comic books and propaganda, beginning with the first appearance of Superman. It will pay special attention to the similarities and differences of Captain America and Iron Man, focusing on their representation of American values over time, and discuss how that aspect of the characters affects their ongoing titles today.

Thesis (M. Tech.) - Dept. of Visual Arts and Design, Faculty of Human Sciences - Vaal University of Technology / The aim of the study was to examine the relationship between visual and verbal codes of visual rhetoric in a sequential art setting. The literature investigation component of the study covered: (1) the notion of visual literacy; (2) the principles of visual rhetoric, and (3) trends in sequential art. The empirical component of the study involved the production of sequential art test material with an accompanying questionnaire in order to measure the comprehension of visual rhetoric in a sample of 197 undergraduate students at the Vaal University of Technology. The working hypotheses that guided the study were, firstly, that the comprehension of the visual code of the visual rhetoric used in a sequential art setting differs between (a) study participants that received visual training prior to the data collection and (b) study participants that received no visual training prior to the data collection, and secondly, that the comprehension of the visual code of the visual rhetoric used in a sequential art setting differs between (a) study participants that received test material in their home language and (b) study participants that did not receive the test material in their home language. Following a one-way ANOVA analysis of the questionnaire data, the first hypothesis indicated a significant statistical difference (p=O.OO) and was not rejected. The second hypothesis indicated no significant statistical difference (p=0.138) and was rejected. Based on the result obtained, possibilities for further research were motivated. / Vaal University of Technology

Text in English / The study unravels moral perversion in selected post-independence detective Shona novels. Moral perversion is a multi-faceted concept and the study focuses on corruption, sexual harassment, abuse of office, stealing, poaching and illegal manufacturing of intoxicating products as the key definers of moral perversion. Afrocentricity merged with Kawaida philosophy are the lenses used to pass critical judgements on the extent the selected literary practitioners portrayed literature rooted in the African ontological existence on moral perversion. Fictional works used as primary sources are Sajeni Chimedza (1984), Mutikitivha Dumbuzenene (1991), Munzwa mundove (1999) and Dandemutande, (1998). All the novels are set in the post-independence era in Zimbabwe when moral perversion is rife. The study is qualitative in nature and data was gathered using questionnaires and interviews from literary critics, publishers and novelists. Particular attention is paid on the causes of moral perversion, images of people in leadership positions and the implications of character assassination of leaders in relation to the development of purposeful literature. The study contends that moral insanity is an acknowledged problem in the post-independence era and novelists are portraying leaders as the chief culprits manning factionalism and unorthodox ways of acquiring resources at the expense of the majority of citizenry. Guided and informed by Afrocentricity, the study argues that novelists are raising pertinent issues although their views are myopic, simplistic and self-defeating because they are failing to see that the leaders are also victims who are victimizing other victims. Blaming the leadership on moral perversion ignoring the impact of colonialism, and neo-colonialism in shaping African personality creates more harm than good as this exonerates the imperialistic system of exploitation which impinges on African culture and personality. Therefore, the study argues that novelists erroneously blame individuals for the sins of a system. There is need to interrogate both external and internal factors to establish sustainable home-grown problem solving solutions to improve human condition and the development of functional literature in Africa. / African Languages / D. Litt. et Phil. (African Languages)

Quando nos deparamos com a imagem do personagem Capitão América tendemos a relacioná-lo com um herói confiante, tão patriótico que veste a bandeira de seu país. O super-herói, criado por Joe Simon e Jack Kirby na década de 1940, ao longo do século XX se transformou em um ícone tão representativo da nação americana quanto o próprio Tio Sam. Nesta dissertação nos propomos a analisar os aspectos centrais do discurso patriótico contido na revista Captain America Comics, publicada nos Estados Unidos entre os anos de 1941 e 1954. Seguindo a metodologia americana, analisamos as publicações observando como esta mídia, ciente de sua influência na cultura popular e seu papel como um meio de comunicação de massa, busca entreter e formar a opinião do público leitor, acompanhando as transformações do país durante a Segunda Guerra Mundial e nos anos que a seguiram. / When we faced the image of the character Captain America we tend to relate him with a confident and such patriotic superhero that even wears the flag of his country. The superhero, created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby in the 1940s, during the 20th century became an icon as representative of the American nation as Uncle Sam itself. In this M.A. thesis we intent to examine the most significant aspects of the patriotic speech contained in the comic book Captain America Comics, published in the United States between 1941 and 1954. Following the American methodology, we analyzed the publications noting how this media, aware of its influence on popular culture and its role as a mass communication media, tries to entertain as also form the opinion of the readership, accompanying the transformations of the country duringWorldWar II and the years that followed.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-28T18:22:59Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Eduardo de Carvalho Cassimiro.pdf: 21483325 bytes, checksum: 91a5b7094d9685eaf8f389489794b204 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-12-16 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The author of this empirical language study aims at offering evidence of the linguistic characterization of some Wonder Woman comic book characters by finding which keywords from specific reference corpora have been incorporated to the aforementioned characters vocabulary, and to what extent. In order to achieve such an aim, the researcher, first, brings to light the 100 relevant keywords from each of his six specific natural language samples by comparing their vocabularies to that of a generic reference corpus (such as the BNC); then, the incorporated keywords are found. Only the texts (not the drawings) from 24 issues of the WONDER WOMAN comic book (published in the late 1980s) have served him as his study corpus. All the stories in that selected corpus were both written and drawn by George Pérez. The researcher s methodological and theoretical basis is from the Corpus Linguistics field (or the corpus-based approach). The results seem to warrant the conclusion that, based on the study of those characters vocabulary, which is a manifestation of the writer s stylistic choices, both the method developed for this research and the theoretical basis selected by the researcher have been proven valuable not only to make the linguistic characterization (of comic book characters) evident, but also to analyze it / O objetivo do autor deste estudo de linguagem empírico é evidenciar a caracterização linguística de personagens de histórias em quadrinhos da Mulher-Maravilha mediante a descoberta de quais palavras-chave de córpora de referência específicos estão incorporadas ao vocabulário de tais personagens, e em qual proporção. Para atingir esse objetivo, o pesquisador, primeiro, descobre as 100 palavras-chave relevantes de seis amostras de linguagem específica por meio da comparação do léxico delas ao dum córpus de referência formado por linguagem genérica (como o BNC); depois, as palavras-chave incorporadas. Apenas os textos de 24 edições da revista WONDER WOMAN do fim da década de 1980, roteirizadas e desenhadas por George Pérez compõem o córpus de estudo. A fundamentação teórico-metodológica do pesquisador é de Linguística de Córpus (ou da abordagem baseada em córpus). À luz dos resultados obtidos, o autor considera admissível afirmar que tanto o método desenvolvido para esta pesquisa quanto o referencial teórico são adequados para a descoberta e para a análise da caracterização linguística de personagens de histórias em quadrinhos com base no vocabulário destes, que é decorrente de escolhas estilísticas do seu roteirista